1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the use of navigation systems. In particular, the present invention enables real-time, historical and predicted traffic information about specific routes to be used in route planning.
2. Description of the Related Art
Navigation systems are popularly used to guide travelers to destinations. Such systems are available built into vehicles or free-standing, to be moved from vehicle to vehicle; for use by drivers and/or pedestrians; as purpose-built devices or as applications on general-purpose devices such as personal digital assistants or mobile telephones; and as systems that are entirely self-contained or as systems that utilize a remote server to perform some or all of their calculations. We refer generally to these systems as “navigation systems.”
Since navigation systems are most commonly used by drivers of vehicles, we frequently refer to the user of such a system as “the driver”. However, the description of the invention that follows is not intended to be limited only to vehicle drivers; it may be applied equally to any use in which the user of the system is any kind of traveler, including, for example, a pedestrian, a bicycle rider, or a person using multiple modes of transportation, such as walking and riding public transit vehicles.
A common problem faced by the driver is vehicular congestion on roadways, i.e. traffic. Information about traffic conditions is typically made available to interested people through a variety of mechanisms, including television and radio reporting, subscription services, etc. Traffic information may encompass both flow and incident information. Traffic flow is a measure of the rate at which traffic is moving along a roadway, for example the number of cars passing a certain point every minute, or as an average speed of traffic along the roadway. Traffic incident information includes information about collisions, construction work, or other events that typically have a negative impact on traffic flow.
The more information that is made available to a driver about traffic incidents and flow, the more informed a choice the driver can make about route planning, thereby leading to less delay and higher utility.